Eschalon: Double Edged

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Having emptied the first lock box, Rollo opens Lilith's next which holds a divine great sword! He takes the magnificent weapon then returns to the city proper, collecting an extra 500 gold coins from Mael for "killing Lilith and recovering her amulet". Rollo then pays the resident Amazon Sonya to master the blade until she can teach him no more. Feeling skilled, he sets off to leave Blackwater only to be confronted again by Mael. Now furious at Rollo's trickery, he lets loose his squads of Barrea mercenaries to finish him off.

The heavily armored swordsmen are certainly more than Rollo can handle so he falls back into the city where the guards and residents come to his aid. It is a blood bath, with only Sonya and two elderly shopkeepers being the survivors of Blackwater. Rollo defeats Mael in combat and the merchant barters information on Rollo's brother, Ragner, in exchange for him letting him go. Rollo agrees, and Mael reveals the goblins at the sinking town of Vela have him before taking his leave. While Rollo keeps his word, Sonya makes sure Mael doesn't get far and executes him after cutting off his legs.

Apparently she has a book? LOL.

With Blackwater now deserted, Sonya escorts the two shopkeeps back to Aridell while Rollo goes to Vela - fighting off many goblins in the town and the surrounds. Unfortunately his swordsmanship is nullified by goblins wearing suicide kegs, as well as goblin archers floating out on rafts. Unable to push deeper into the town he opts to train a bit more first in the wilderness, defeating a boat load of pirates on a beach and a horde of slimes at a marsh before finding a beautiful castle in the middle of the woods...

Insight: The exploding goblins hurt all those around them so if they are going to explode anyway, try get them to hit their friends too - especially other exploding goblins as they chain react.

Eschalon: A Letter to Yourself

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Yup, there are dinosaurs in the woods!

Lucky the raptors are very territorial and don't pursue out of their part of the woods. Soon Rollo arrives at the city of Blackwater, which he pays a 100 gold fee to enter. He looks around for work again and finds a sly looking merchant named Mael who is offering a tidy sum for anyone that kills the druid Lilith and brings him her amulet. Rollo hides the fact that she's already dead, and that he already has her amulet while offering Mael a drink in hopes to get more clues as to what the amulets mean.

Unfortunately Mael only reveals his unfortunate past of being an important merchant leader before having something valuable stolen from him. He pursued the thief by ship but was caught in a storm that crashed him upon this continent with no means to pursue and is now working to rebuilt his wealth. Clearly not getting anything useful, Rollo says he'll consider the offer then leaves to explore the rest of the large city - finding the corpse of a murder victim in one house, lying in a pool of blood that was staining the ransacked mess around him.

By chance, Rollo discovers a torn paper in the garbage that holds a pass phrase for the tavern. Upon using it, the tavern owner takes him through some magic protections and into a large vault below where he asks to see his ID Keys. It turns out, these are the amulets - they aren't magic at all! The crypt amulet opens a lockbox that contains a huge gem and a note from himself saying that this gem is the only thing that can stop the goblin invasion. It goes on to explain that he used a forgetfulness potion on himself so that the goblin leader, Gramuk, won't be able to track him with his uber-mindreading powers. Unfortunately the gem was found by him and his brother Ragner, and if only one of them was reading the note then the other was likely already captured by the goblin forces. Uh oh.

Insight: The well in Blackwater is one of the best healing sources around.

Enderal: Wishbreaker

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Jespar and I return to Ark to meet up with Grandmaster Tealor who is facing many critics upon the coming war, most vocally from Squad Leader Jorek, but Tealor refuses to surrender the Beacon. Instead he tasks us with finding three black stones to power it. To help in this endeavor, Tealor commands the guards to lift the kill on sight command previously on me and after paying an exorbitant fee I'm free of the law men again. It also helps that Mael, the instigator of that command, has left the city, presumably to pursue Dijaam across the sea.

The first of the black stones actually belongs to Jespar's family, most likely with his estranged sister since he doesn't have it. Our search for her reveals that she is also the vigilante known as the Bone Judge. When we finally catch up to her, we find the stone is what gives her her power and since Jespar can't talk her into surrendering I end up killing her. Jespar hates me for this, and spirals into a dark place full of powdered drugs, alcohol and whores. 

Sorry kid, the greater good is always better than a single person's happiness.

I track the next stone to a village near Duneville where everyone seems pretty happy. The owner of this artifact is a little boy whose only hope is to find someone to play with and using the power to create a "reality" where people like him and refuse to leave. I have no choice but to take the stone from him by force and kill the deformed child. As a result the people in the town die too, since they haven't eaten anything real for years and were just being sustained through the boy's wish.

Insight: Not sure why I couldn't pay my fine earlier, I guess I needed to wait long enough for the NPCs to respawn without aggro?

Enderal: Meeting Sneaking

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Being wanted really makes it challenging to attend the next meeting in the Keeper's base. It takes a bit of the time stop perk and a number of invisibility potions to reach it without being massacred by all the guards and soldiers on the way in.

Grandmaster Tealor himself is not impressed by my tardiness or by my current status which he refuses to override. Instead he assigns me a task suitable for my skill set, and my being expendable. The Nehrimise army has sailed across the sea in what is the start of an invasion and I am to plant magical plates in their base to spy on them.

Since Jespar is just a greedy merc, he too is sent with me and our first task is to meet up with Firespark at an ancient temple which has the transportation means to reach the Nehrimise camp undetected. To avoid the local guards we teleport out of there to the Frostcliff Tavern, but the patrons there are also on the look out for me just proving the reach of Mael's pockets!

Sort of like this, but with everyone after Jespar and I.

A mass brawl erupts in which we kill a few people before managing to break free and flee towards the mission objective.

Insight: There are a surprising number of NPCs that can't be killed in safe zones, so don't expect to win fights by being the last one standing there. You won't be.

Enderal: The Petrified

[Part of the Cursed story line]

We find Mael strung up on the theater stage but alive, and in front of him a priceless gem stolen from the Golden Sickle caravan long ago. Dijaam tries to grab it but is immobilized by a dart trap, leaving myself to deal with the puppet master - Pennypouches who is suffering from Red Madness!

One of the hardest fights in Enderal.

He sends his two hired Petrified goons (they really work for anyone) to deal with me in what becomes a really long battle! I end up using a lot of my potions and ammo to defeat the two fools before finally killing Pennypouches and administering the cure to Dijaam. Despite Mael's very vocal protests and threats, we promptly abscond with the gem to a secluded beach where Dijaam can properly reward me.

In the morning, she and the gem are gone having left a note that reads "I'm sorry". Knowing Mael is not one for empty threats I decide hideout in Duneville for awhile, and run into Esme en route - just in time to save her from some bandits, and to rejoin her search for Tara.

Insight: The battle against the two petrified is one of the toughest ones I've come across due to the mechanic. You need to knock both down at the same time and keep attacking while they are down to deplete their psychic shields / do any damage. Easier said than done for an archer.

Enderal: Pulling Our Strings

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Stealing the info from the the spooky manor is pretty straight forward, so Jespar and I return to Ark where a courier kid gives me a letter from Dijaam. Jespar goes ahead to report in while I visit the merchantess at an Undercity tavern and accept her request to assist in finding out who set her up to take the blame for the Golden Sickle ambush.

A speedy investigation has clues that quickly point to Mael, the Golden Sickle grandmaster, so Dijaam heads to the Sickle base in town to confront him but only find a shop full of workers. Things escalate quickly which results in their massacre! For this, Dijaam is quickly apprehended by the city guard and taken to prison.

Hang in there, pussy cat.

Fortunately I am a lot stealthier, and with no witnesses putting me at the scene of the crime I am free to head to the prison and break her out. Unfortunately the guards have had their way with her by then and I find her battered, beaten, and "thoroughly" searched, but she did learn from them that Mael is actually missing too. We conclude that whoever is pulling our strings is trying to put on a show and head to the old theater on a hunch.

Insight: Generic enemies respawn after a few days have passed, so don't assume things are clear if you haven't been there recently.

Enderal: You're F-Hired!

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Returning from Duneville I manage to wrap up a number of lose ends at Ark - completing a relic collection for the SHOES guild, an egg collection for crazy Kurmai who wants to start an aviary in his floating "Star City", and the ingredients to reproduce the poison Mael was interested in - but not before first warning his rival Dijaam that she's under suspicion. Since she confronts Mael directly about it, I promptly get fired from the Golden Sickle.

Just as well as right after Calia and I get promoted into the Keeper guild, and Grandmaster Tealor puts us to work immediately - sending us to assist a nearby dig crew to retrieve an ancient artifact. Turns out this crew is led by Lishari, and her progress into the site is being held up by trap savvy bandits who have made a home of this place.

I happen to stumble into one - a giant pit but luckily land deep water. From there I can work my way back up, assassinating the entrenched bandits as I go. Only their leader gets the drop on me but Calia, who also fell into the pit but managed to hang onto something to find a different exit, shows up just in time to save me - using her menacing "shadow form"? She later explains that she has some other being in her that comes out to kill people from time to time.

More than just a pretty face.

Insight: Even without her shadow form, Calia is a decent tank and does good damage with her two handed sword so let her take point in combat. Comparatively Tharael does more damage with his twin swords but can't take many hits.

Enderal: Arkham

[Part of the Cursed story line]

On the way back to Ark I run into a Golden Sickle caravan getting raided by some black clothed thieves who flee after a short skirmish. I initially thought they were Rhalata but apparently they belong to a different guild called the Petrified. Odd name.

The Golden Sickle guild master, Mael, is very impressed when he hears of my combat prowess and hires me on as a protector. The first job is to simply deliver a letter to a Dijaam, rival merchant representative who I find in the bath house. This simple task evolves into a dinner with the enchanting merchantess at the nearby tavern which goes well but is totally crashed by Lishari, now returned from her dig site, who has had too much to drink.

She works fast...

I must have too as on a whim, I decide to purchase a house in the Nobles District of Ark... which I call "Arkham" (couldn't resist).  The next morning Mael tasks me with reconstructing the trace poison used by the attackers of his caravan crew. Poison he believes was supplied by Dijaam. Argh. To clear my head I go win more arena fights.

Insight: Yes, you can name your house and you can manually decorate it too, though I am glad there's an auto furbish option that just costs a little more money to put it into a functional state.